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The Internet : Plagiarism And The Internet

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Plagiarism and The Internet Imagine our modern world without the Internet. The Internet provides many benefits to education and improve education system and academic environment. Moreover, it offers innovative ways for teachers and students to learn. Teachers use the Internet for assignments, test taking and board discussions. For instance, in the George Brown College professors use smart board which promote collaboration and enhance instruction. Also, the Internet increases the quality of our life in many ways. For example, we use it to video chat with family that are far away and to shop from our homes. The Internet makes our lives more convenient and easy. However, the availability of the Internet has also led to increased plagiarism. Some students prefer to use the ready information in the Internet instead of spending time for research and analysing original information. Hence, they turned to plagiarism. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “plagiarism” as “the act of using another person’s ideas without giving credit to that person”. The Oxford dictionary includes in its definition of plagiarism, not only taking the words or ideas of another, but also “passing them off as one’s own”. Easy access to the Internet has made plagiarism a rapidly growing problem in education system. Easy access to the Internet and an endless amount of information online makes an environment for plagiarism. Students find it easy to find, download, and copy the information. The Internet provides useful information for a student under heavy outside pressure to finish assignments by a due date. One study in the United States covering around 18,000 students from 23 universities showed that some 40% of students acknowledged committing plagiarism by copying, formalizing, and cutting and pasting (Talab, 2004, p.15). An annual survey of United States students found an increase – from 13 percent in 1999 to 41 percent in 2002 – in students who said they regularly copied and pasted text into their papers without attribution (Carroll 2007, p.20). Internet plagiarism has negatively impact evaluation system, student learning and reputation of academic institutions. Education system is based on the student evaluation system.

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